Master of the Night
by NapoleonIV
Summary: My first attempt at a fanfic. The Homunculi's plotting in Liore has awaken an ancient darkness, and he is not happy. Summeries are not my speciality
1. Introduction

Author's Note: Hello, comrades. I welcome you to "Master of the Night", my first attempt at fanfic writing. Any reviews will be welcome, but please make criticisms constructive, that is "You suck, this story sucks" and the like are not useful comments, unless with a "because.." and a reason why something sucks (for the record, I know this stroy isn't good, but I don't know why, and would like some help with dicerning the root for my writing's inherent awfulness).

As for the story itself; Yes, I play Vampire: the Masquerade, and have borrowed the words Tzimice and Methuselah from there (though I believe that White Wolf borrowed the word Methuselah from somewhere else, so I suppose its fair). They are used here only because I think they sound cool as words, and do not reflect white wolf's use of them (not totally; yes, Methuselah means ancient vamp in both white wolf and my terminology, but there are major differences which will become apparent as the story progresses).

Disclaimer: In the capitalist sense of the word, I do not own Full Metal Alchemist. I believe the word Tzimice is a registered trademark of White Wolf, but Iam convincedthere are enough differences between my Tzimice and their vampire clan to avoid any infringement. In any event, all law suits will be futile, sinceI have nothing.

Nighttime in Liore is a deceivingly quiet time. During the day, this town is a destination for many pilgrims, thanks to its local prophet and miracle worker, one Father Cornello. Cornello claimed to be a wonder worker sent by the Sun God, and word of his miraculous powers, powers which had surpassed the abilities of even the best alchemists, spread quickly. Holy seekers, skeptics, pilgrims, and the simply curious came to the small desert town to see these wonders for themselves. Many stayed in the town after witnessing these extraordinary acts. Surely, this man must be an emissary of God, as he said.

Two young boys were less impressed, however. Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist, and his brother, a soul bound to a suit of armor named Alphonse, didn't buy into the fat preacher's "miracles", and challenged him at every turn. On a quest for the sacred relic of the alchemist, the Philosopher's Stone, Ed and Al succeeded in proving Cornello as the fraud he was; not an emissary of God, but a pitiful pseudo-alchemist wielding a false Stone. After watching the false stone destroy Cornello, Ed and Al continued on their way, believing that their work had been done. But darker forces had other plans for the small town.

Cornello had returned. Of course, this was not the same man who had been the _de facto_ leader of Liore. That man was truly dead, destroyed by the false Stone he had abused in life. This was a Homunculi, a soulless creature born of forbidden alchemy, using its power to impersonate the deceased "prophet of the Sun God". This creature and its associates still needed Liore, and its "prophet", for their own agenda, and would not allow the Fullmetal Alchemist to ruin their plotting so easily.

But there are things in the night, creatures forged from an even more alien darkness than the Homunculi. They are immortal, and have plans of their own. One such creature haunted the night of Liore. Had the Elrics not intervened, he would have ended the false prophet's life himself. He had hoped that the Elrics' had saved him some effort, but with the reemergence of the preacher, this creature of the night has once again begun to plot destruction, but this time not just of the preacher. To be sure, this new prophet is a bother to him, and he will deal with "Cornello" as he deals with all those who dare to trifle with him in his domain, but he will also deal with those who are in control of the preacher's rise. For he is Tzimece, the ancient master of Liore's quiet nights, an immortal observer and occasional participant of its mortal affairs, and vampire of the greatest power and age. He had seen alchemy's birth, had seen its growth. He knew of the Homunculi in a vague sort of way; they had never really bothered his affairs, so he never cared for these failures. But now they dared to cross his path, and no creature ever escapes the wrath of a true Methuselah.

"Brother, can I ask you something?" Alphonse Elric's soft, metallic voice sounded every bit like the innocent he had been before the accident which had claimed his true body.

"Sure, Al. What is it?" Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist, youngest person to ever be given the silver watch of the State Alchemists, replied in a distracted sort of way. He was rather tired, and wanted to go to sleep in the soft bed he had rented for the night. But if his younger brother had something on his mind, Ed would force himself to listen. It was the least he could do, given what he had force Al to become.

"I was just thinking….about Liore. I wonder how they're doing without Cornello?" Al sighed. Though his metal body provided no means for the younger Elric to express his feelings facially, Ed could tell something else was bothering Al.

"I'm sure their doing a lot better without that bastard manipulating them all." Ed replied confidently.

"Yeah….but…." Al stopped again. Ed waited a moment for Al to continue, and when his brother failed to finish his thought, Ed got curious. His weariness began to fade away at the prospect of something bothering Al.

"Al, what is it? C'mon, you can tell me." Ed egged Al on.

"Well…I was thinking about Rose." Al paused a moment. Ed though about the name.

"Oh." He said when his mind a finally decided to work beyond the last shackles of half-sleep. "That girl who's boyfriend Cornello had promised to raise from the dead. What about her?" A thought struck Ed then and there, but he dismissed it. Al was to young to be thinking like that.

"Well, I wonder how she's dealing with the fact that her boyfriend is going to stay dead. I mean, she had been hoping Cornello would raise him, return him to her, and now that dream's been shattered. I wonder how she's coping…" Al finished, the last thought more an act of thinking out loud than anything.

Ed thought for a moment. He had been hoping to get back to Risembol, but decided he could visit the Rockbells later.

"Hey, Al." Ed began. Al turned his helmet with a little clunk. "Why don't we go to Liore and see how it's doing? You want to?"

Al nodded his head happily "That would be great, brother."

Pleased with himself for bringing a small bit of joy to Al, Ed turned back, feeling the demand for sleep returning in force. "We'll get the tickets tomorrow then. Good night, Al."

Al only half heard him. He was too excited. He had been bothered since they left Liore to its fate. Now he could put his worries to rest.

"Cornello" sat in his chamber at the heart of his grand temple. The day had gone well. The pilgrims were not deterred by the Fullmetal's actions. Rather, they felt more certain than ever that if a "demon" had come to impersonate Cornello, and had been struck down by God's hand, then clearly he _was_ the Sun God's chosen.

"Be wary of deceit, young creature, least you begin to believe your own lies." a dark voice called from the shadows. "Cornello" turned sharply. He looked very hard, yet he saw nothing. It seemed as though the voice had been the shadows talking…no, that was ridiculous.

"Cornello" went to sit back down, but couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched. He knew his fellow Homunculi were in the room next door, having come back to see how "Cornello" was holding up his part of the plan. But this felt like something…

"Sinister, perhaps?" the voice called again. This time "Cornello" leapt up from his chair.

Looking about frantically and still seeing nothing, "Cornello" yelled. "Who's there! Come out and face me like a man!"

A malevolent chuckling resounded across the room, deep and full of spite and mocking. Suddenly, "Cornello" felt his priest façade fade away, against his will. He returned to his normal form, a small, effeminate man with wild, green hair. "What the hell…?" he muttered, suddenly filled with dread.

"So, this is the true face of my prey." Envy, the Homunculi who had been impersonating Cornello since the late fraud's death, was still struggling to locate his apparent foe. Suddenly, a pair of glowing red eyes appeared in the shadows of the corner to his far left. From the shadows, slowly, the eyes lead out the form of a tall man in old-world aristocratic garb. The figure stood roughly six-foot-five and was very slim and pale. In fact, except for his glowing red eyes, his whole being seemed to lack color of any sort, an alabaster Envy had never seen before on a living creature.

Envy put on a smug smirk. "I don't know who you are or how you did what you did, but you just made a big mistake, pal, showing yourself and all. 'Cuz now, I can see you, and therefore, can kill you."

The pale face, which had been grinning darkly, only grinned bigger, showing wickedly pointed fangs. "Oh, is that a fact, creature? You truly believe you can kill me?" The same chuckle emerged from his throat. "I don't believe you understand what you now face. By all means, though, try and kill me. A spirited prey makes for a much more amusing kill, after all."

Envy lunged, his athletic ability quickly cutting the distance between himself and the odd intruder. Envy unleashed a massive roundhouse kick to the man's face, and followed up with several punches to his gut, and ended with an attempted uppercut. But Envy's hand was caught by the man. The figure's grip was like iron, and Envy could feel the bones in his hand breaking slowly. But what shocked the Homunculi more than the man's strength was the fact that he looked utterly un harmed by Envy's assault. Not so much as a single bruise appeared on his porcelain face, and the smirk remained, unchanged.

"My, is this all you have?" He taunted the homunculi he now held. His tightened his grip just a bit, and he was rewarded with the sound of Envy's hand crunching within his own. Envy cried out in pain. He chuckled again.

"I thought you said you were going to kill me? Did I hear you wrong, or are you just a weak little idiot?" Then he swatted Envy across the room, sending the little Homunculi flying without any apparent effort, as though he were striking a fly.

"D-Dammit." Envy gasped. "He's stronger than I thought." Just then, Envy noticed a shadow racing ahead of him. Envy didn't need to turn his head to know that the shadow had turned into the pale man.

Tzimece swung his hand down, slamming Envy down by the throat as the Homunculi flew. The impact shattered the stones of the floor. Envy just gasped. Then he felt himself being lifted, the hand clamping down on his neck.

"I must say, this has been rather disappointing, creature. "the pale man purred. "I had expected more from you." The hand grew tighter. Envy was rather sure he couldn't die from being strangled or having his neck broken, but he didn't rule out passing out as a possibility. And who knew what this…thing would do once the Homunculi lost consciousness. Envy didn't know precisely what kind of punishment he couldn't heal from, but he didn't doubt this guy would figure it out eventually.

The slamming of the chamber door announced the arrival of the other two Homunculi, Lust and Gluttony. Lust was beautiful women in a low-cut dress, and Gluttony was short, fat blob of a man with an enormous mouth filled with acid. The pale man noticed them, and flung Envy to his fellows.

"So, you are the creatures that have dared to play God in my domain." He stated flatly. "How good of you to come. You've saved me the trouble of coming after you later."

Tzimece studied his foes as he braced himself for combat. One Homunculi was barely worth his attentions, but three might prove…amusing. No, not worth the full extent of his power, not even half. But more than he'd needed in centuries. The little one already knew about his ability to will another's powers into disuse. Now he'd see some more impressive feats.

The flush of blood filled him. Oh, yes, tonight he would grant these fools a great blessing before he killed them; he'd demonstrate the kind of power the world hadn't seen in centuries. They would learn what kind of hell-on-earth a true vampire could unleash upon those who earned his ire. He grinned manically at the prospect, as the power of his undead blood began to fill the air.

"What ever gods you believe in ,creatures, I suggest you start praying." He growled, his face a mix of bestial rage and unholy joy.


	2. The First Battle, Pt1

A/N: See CH 1 for relevant note. I apologize for the notes length. Future A/Ns will be as short as I can possibly make them.

Disclaimer: Is this even truly necessary beyond the first chapter? If I didn't own FMA before, what are the odds anything is going to change after CH1 is posted? In any event, I still do not own FMA.

Tzimice looked at the three Homunculi standing before him. The power of his undead blood filled him, making him feel greater than he had for centuries. He began to asses each of his foes' threat level. He decided that the dumb looking blob may be the most threatening of the three. The acid in his mouth would make direct physical strikes to him more difficult than they would be against the other two.

To be sure, the ancient creature had no doubt he _could _ land such strikes if necessary. But Tzimice decided that his more esoteric powers would be most effective in stopping the vacant eyed brute.

The little green haired thing (Tzimice still wasn't certain if it was a man or women, and frankly didn't care much either way) would be the easiest of the three to deal with, and Tzimice decided to save his death for last. As near as Tzimice could tell, its illusionary powers were the only ones of note that it possessed.

The woman was a wild card. She didn't appear to be all that threatening.

'But then again' Tzimice thought with amusement 'the same could be said for myself.' He decided to deal with the female creature as it necessitated, and would otherwise ignore her until the fat one had been dealt with and the androgynous one had been sufficiently incapacitated.

"I don't believe we've been properly introduced. May I ask your name?" The female said in a very low, near seductive voice. Tzimice smiled inwardly. To think, trying to seduce a thing that had been dead longer than any nation had existed.

But he saw no harm in keeping to etiquette. Nothing said one had to be rude to the thing's one was going to slaughter in mere moments, after all.

"My apologies, young lady." Tzimice responded in a most dignified tone. He kept the power of his blood at ready call, just in case the three creatures tried something, but otherwise change his stance from one of combat to one of a courteous bow. Rising from the motion, he looked each one in the eye.

"I am known as Tzimice, and I am the lord of this domain, and have been since its founding." Tzimice said in a formal, matter-of-fact, yet still cordial tone. "You have disturbed me, and have proven to be a true bother to the stability of this place and its cattle…excuse me, mortals. Thusly, I have come to exact the toll due from such disrespect." His voice remained even throughout his introduction.

Gluttony, the fat, acid-mouthed Homunculi gazed blankly at the strange, pale man in front of him. He smelled weird, and a thought entered Gluttony's otherwise non-functioning mind.

"Can I eat him now, Lust?" Gluttony asked in tone reminiscent of a child badgering its mother for a cookie from the jar. "He smells weird. I wanna know how he tastes." Lust looked down at Gluttony.

"In a moment Gluttony. I want to talk to him for a moment." Lust returned her glance to the pale figure in front of her. Lord since the town's founding? He certainly didn't seem that old, and Lust didn't recall any Homunculi being called Tzimice. And if he was the lord, why hadn't she seen him sooner?

For his part, Tzinmice remained as he had since he had finished introducing himself. "You said you wished to speak to me, child. At the risk of sounding rude, I must implore you to hurry on with it. You see, I'm on something of a schedule, and simply don't have the time for conversation and death-dealing both."

"Ok, I'll get to the point then; Just what are you? You certainly aren't as my comrades and I are, yet to be able to do what you did to Envy, you can't be human either."

Tzimice couldn't help but laugh a little. Lust, Gluttony, Envy…three of the seven deadly sins of mortals. How inventive of these creatures. If their actions didn't demand he kill them, he might like to learn a little more about them. But one's duties were one's, and this little conversation was taking to much of his time as it was. He still had some hours yet before the sun rose, but he wanted to enjoy this. Such fascinating creatures deserved creative deaths.

"While I'd love to get into the details with you…Lust, wasn't it?" Lust nodded. "As I said, I'm on a rather strict schedule, so to summarize; I am a Methuselah, or a very ancient vampire, to drastically over simplify the matter." Tzimice then took a battle stance, beginning to ready his powers. Before Lust could start talking again, Tzimice spoke. "This has been a truly fascinating talk, but here is where our conversation must end. You must pay the price for your actions, and that price is your lives. So then, fat one, didn't you say you wanted to try and eat me? Then have at me."

Gluttony glanced to Lust. She sighed and nodded her assent. The little fat man charged with a great deal more speed than one of his considerably mass should be capable of, mouth hanging open, drooling destructive acid as he prepared to take a bite of this new food.

He never got the chance. The little blob felt himself being lifted into the air. Looking about in confusion, Gluttony found he was being born into the air by his own shadow, looking like pool of darkness with tendrils protruding from it, slowly wrapping around his rotund form. Gluttony squirmed and tried to bite the shadow, but to no avail. His mouth simply closed around the black nothing to no effect. The shadowy constraints grew tighter and tighter, squishing and crushing the Homunculi's flab and bone. Gluttony began crying out in fear.

"Lust, Lust help!" The child like abomination cried out. Lust sighed again.

'How did I get stuck being this idiot's mommy?' she wondered to herself. But she couldn't allow the fat beast to be destroyed by this "vampire". He was too useful to her.

"Envy, go help Gluttony, I'll deal with our little vampire here." She ordered. Envy looked hesitant at first. "Don't tell me your afraid of the big bad bloodsucker just because he slapped you around a little bit." Envy turned his head to glare at Lust. The movement caught Tzimice's eye.

"Hmm… so the little hermaphrodite does have some tricks besides shape-shifting." Tzimice muttered, noting the fact that Envy seemed to have completely recovered from his earlier assault.

"I wonder if its mind is as quick to heal as its body?" With that, Tzimice vanished, fading from view. The shadows continued to crush the now frantically flailing, clearly panicked Gluttony. Envy got a look of pure fear in her eyes. Lust looked only slightly interested.

Lust readied her hands, shaping them into claws. Envy took a fighting stance, though his eyes were still disturbed. Sure, he had healed from the first attack, but it still hurt. Envy did not like pain, and liked fighting things that he couldn't hurt but that could easily hurt him even less. His head still hurt from earlier, and that headache was getting worse.

And worse and worse. Soon, Envy felt like his head would explode. That's when he noticed the eyes. Glowing red, just floating in the air in front of him, gazing into his own. He heard voices.

"You can't win." "You will die." "Why are you still hear" "Kill Lust" "Kill yourself" "Give up" "What are you really" "Filthy failure" "Alchemist's mistake" "Soulless wretch" "Weakling, imbecile" "End yourself," "End Lust" 'Do it, Do it, DO IT!"

Ten voices, no, twenty, all screaming at him inside his own head. "No, shut up, get out of my head. God dammit, I will kill you. I am not going to do that" Envy cried out, panicked and in pain. He had fallen to his knees. Lust looked over, very curios as to what Envy was going on about. Envy began lashing out at where he saw the eyes. He was there, he was just invisible. But every swing failed to hit any thing. Envy couldn't even strike the floating eyes themselves.

"Envy, what are you swinging at!" Lust saw nothing in front of Envy, and began to wonder just what she was up against. Gluttony had stopped screaming for her. The shadows had begun to flow down his throat, and were expanding him even has more shadow constricted him. Lust knew that soon Gluttony would be broken. He may heal, but even a Homunculi would need time to recover from that sort of damage. And Envy was still screaming at no one in particular (as far as Lust could tell), striking at empty air, occasionally falling down and clutching his head. This wasn't right. Homunculi are not suppose to be able to beaten so soundly by anything, vampire or not.

Lust felt a presence emerging from behind her. She swung her pointed talons with great speed, slicing behind her. She caught the blur of movement, felt the something rush over her, and saw her claws hit nothing but air.

"Envy, over here!" Envy continued to gibber and swing at nothing, not even acknowledging Lust with so much as a glare or a "piss off".

"I'm afraid its rather occupied trying to fight its own madness at the moment." Lust swung again, extending her talons, and again she saw only a blur. This time, though, she felt more than wind as Tzimice went by. She barley avoided being sliced in half by the Methuselah's own talons. Lust looked down and saw a very nasty gash along her right side. She turned and saw Tzimice staring at her, a demonically bemused look in his blood red eyes. Tzimice then turned and looked at the still struggling Gluttony.

"My, how resilient you creatures are turning out to be." Tzimice said, sounding slightly impressed. "I can't say much for your actually fighting abilities, but you handle getting a beating very well." Then he raised one claw (Lust noticed her own blood dripping from the blades on the once normal hand), then made small gesture, something like a thumbs down and making a fist combined. The shadows suddenly sprouted what can only be described as blades, piercing Gluttony at every conceivable angle. The vacant look common to the beats eyes was replaced by a look of pure agony. The creatures blood dripped freely to the ground. Turning to Lust, Tzimice said in a tone similar to the one he had used when he introduced himself. "So, shall I finish him first, or that?" Pointing to Envy, who had stopped struggling and was actually crying. Lust was shocked. She didn't even know a Homunculi could cry.

"Stop it, get out of my head. Stop showing these things to me, I don't want to see, I don't want to hear." He kept muttering. While not bawling by any stretch, a few tears had worked themselves free. For the first time, Lust began to wonder about their chances of victory. If this…thing could reduce Envy to tears, who's to say that he couldn't kill them? Sure, she had already healed the wound he had inflicted on her, but so far, he seemed to have largely ignored her.

"Ok, ok, we'll leave your precious town. It isn't worth this much trouble." Lust said, trying to force anger into her tone to mask her…fear? No, not fear. Homunculi don't feel fear. Just like how they don't cry.

Tzimice looked confused for a moment. "Who said anything about your leaving? I thought I made it clear," He paused, letting his smile show his wickedly shard fangs, "you are going to die. You must pay the price for your actions. It is to late for me to allow you to live. Even if you somehow escaped, I would hunt you to the ends of the Earth, and I would kill you."

The look of fear in Lusts eyes made Tzimice grin like a mad man. "So, child, now that you fully understand your situation, which of your two fellows do you want to see die first?"


End file.
